Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wayne Rainey (above) placed third while Steve Wise (below) was runner-up. Hugh Humble (bottom) squeaked out the Formula Two w in . Edd ie Lawson (right) owned the Superbike race . By Tom Mueller Photo by Gary Van Voorhis TALLADEGA. AL. MAR. 14 • Jim Adamo repealed h is perform an ce of the previous week and pushed h is Ducati to an uncontested win in the Ba ttl e of th e Twins a t Alabama International Motor Speedw a y. Adamo broke free.o f the first turn sh uffle and bui lt a n ever -in creas ing lead over Duca ti mounted Mal colrne Tunstall . who took second. Expert Modified class winner joseph Mills led a Du ca ti sweep of th e first fo u r places in th at class. besting Pa ul MacMillan. Madison Cox and Walter Shaefer. BMWmounted Devin Battley took fifth in class. john Long. who ca rded a second in Da ytona 's BOTT th e previous week. used a quick clutch hand to power off the grid in the lead. Riders ' sp read out. th en bunched up aga in th rou gh th e first sweep ing left hander into the infield straight. Off the banking and o n to the fro nt straigh t it was Adam o all a lo ne o u t front. sport in g an II second lead ove r a tight ra ce between Tunstall and Mills. Dwaine Williams. on a Norton , and Doug Gross. on a Ducari , were at it for fourth. Long faded o u t o f the top runners. th en o u t of co ntention earl y in th e race. and Bob Ransbottom also DNF after hi s Norton lost fire. It ' wasn't long before th e powerful GP clas s bikes began to put large cus h ions on the rest of the pack. By la p four of the ten lap race . Adamo h ad 15 seco nds on Tuns ta ll . who in turn had stretched a lead over Mills. Paul MacMi llan Duc'ed his way to fourth and was being -cha llenged by Gross. Madison Cox p u t . his Ducati up against Chris Bann ister. Brown . yet another Ducati pilot. for sixth. O ther than ba ttles bei ng waged by pairs of riders. the to three posiI ' I I I lot I . , I tions were set and the competition part of th e rac e had co me and gone. Adamo held his steadv lead and kept the gas on. By lap seven he had 25 seconds over Tunstall , who was carrying 40 seconds over Mills. The fourth through seventh place riders flopped positions u ntil MacMillan and Bannister-Brown were 4-5, and Gross and Cox were 6-7. Duca ti rider Walter Shaefer and Beemer mounted Kurt Leibman moved into the 8-9 positions. The chec kered flag went out to Adamo. and jim d idn ' t let off th e gas u n til the win was his . Tunstall, then Mi lls followed. wit h Gross head ing MacMi llan and Cox in ' ': cluster. Leibman was next in the seventh slot. Adamo 'was the king of the GP ranks. Mills took th e Expert Modifi ed cl a ss win . Banni st er -Brown topped th e Am ateur Modified clas s. .a n d Christopher Steward repeat ed his Stock class performance for the seco n d week in a row. tak ing h is Yam aha Mo tor s Corporation XV920 to the win . " I just wanted to pull away an d sh ow 'em:' sa id Adam o a fter wards. " We were d own in New Orlean s la st week a t Vernon 's Cycle -and rebu ilt the engi ne . We ha ve two bikes, one ex peri me nta l and o ne race. an d we cha nged everythi n g befo re we go t he re. At the race track we conce nt ra te o n racin g. Thanks to Mich elin. Ca stre, Castrol , a nd ofco urse Reno Leon i. He bou ght th e bik es. a nd he's th e one • wh o makes 'em hot ro ds ." Results .GP: 1. Jim Adamo(Duct; 2. Malcolm, Tunstall (D 3. Kun uel: L"bman (BMW): 4. Doug Lantz (Ducl: 5. R Herndon INor). ick E~P MOO: 1. Joseph Mills IDuc) 2. Pa MacMill n (Duel; 3. ; ul a M adison C (Ducl; 4, Walter Shaefer (Ducl: 5. D vin Battley Ol l IBMW). . AM MOD: 1. Chris Bannister·Blown (Duc); 2; Dou Gross g i an ; (Duel: 3. Wallael MlSllrs INor): 4. Ton Bry (Nor) 5. While, IlIigl sch 1 ). M·G . STOCK: l , Christopher Steward (Y am) 2.'Marl M ; ercadante IM .~) : 3 . p.lIr Br l d , I BMW) : 4 . W.yn. R i" IBMW). . • Time: 22 min, 56.16 sec. Averlg. SpUd : 104.63B mph. Formula Two McDo nald put his K&N of Tulsa Yamaha out front at the sta rt of the final leading the R u m p y Chevrolet Yamaha of Taylor, Michigan 's Morris and the EPM Wheels Yamaha of Busby across th e finish line at the end of lap one. Humble. took a boa rd hi s HumbleFew Racing Yamaha . q u ick ly joined the fra y and too k over th e lead on lap two. Labrosse put hi s CKOI-FM sponsored Yamaha in fifth an d the top fi VI.' cast of characters was set. Yamaha's jimmy Fi lice was in sixt h o n the th ir d la p . but it wasn ' t a secu re position as Bruce Maus was clos ing in o n Filice's rear wh eel. A .short distance back and closing were R h ys Howard an d john ' Williams. These four set up their own fight over sixth for most of the race. H oward ca me out on top followed by Filice. Maus and Williams. Out front . Humbl e a nd McDona ld were trading the lead all over the track with Humbl e leading wh er e it counted o n laps four through eigh t. McDonald grabbed the lead o n lap n in e and held o n. Humbl e stayed back as the pa ir took the wh it e flag. was patient as th ey hustl ed through th e in field and stayed in McDonald 's d ra ft as they ex ited th e ch ica ne. He th en wa ited until th ey were co ming o ff the banking headin g for the fin ish line. made use of th e draft 10 p ull a lo ngside a n d hold a less than o ne bik e length edge at th e fin ish. " The final lap worked just as I pl anned." said Humble. " I wanted McDonald .to lead an d he did. He. . 'knew what was happening and slow~d down as we exited th e chica ne , wanting me to pass. I didn 't an d he had no cho ice. but to hope he co u ld.ho ld me off. My fat he r. A.C. Humbl e. did a heck of a job building a s tr o n g engi ne." •. , • Results Squeaker to Humble By Gary Van Voorhis TALLADEGA, AL. MAR. 14 H ugh Humble and Sam MeDo nal d waged a nearly racelong duel in the Form u la Two event at th e H o n da sponsored Talladega Pro -Am . From the second . lap on, the two p laye d pass and repa ss, sett ing up an inevit a ble race 10 the finish lin e. H u m ble ca me ou t on top -- by less than a bike length. Ro u nd in g o u t the top five in the 10 lap final were Alan Labrosse. Dave Busby and last year' s winner Craig Morri s. All were 'a bo a rd 250 cc Yamahas. "It's been a long time coming," sa id Texan Humble. " I think this 'wa s m y best ride in a long time. I enjoyed racing with Sam. He had a bit of accelerat ion on me. but I had an edge o n top end." . " Los in g is bad eno u gh: ' sa id MeDonald, " bu t to lose by a bo ut three feet a t th e fini sh is th e pits. We wer e a bit ric h o n th e jetting and the engi ne wouldn 't pull as stro ng as I would have lik ed. H ugh had th e draft to work with. but I thought I co u ld hold on a nd win. I was wrong.:· La brosse. Canadi an roa d racin g cha m p in three divi sions, hopes to mak e a strong showin g thi s year in Formula Two and a ttract some sponsors h ip . " I was bac k in fourth startin g th e fin al lap' when Morris went o rr co urs e and I kn ew th is was m y. cha n ce. It seemed I couldn't reall y get going because I didn' t have an ybody to race with so I was cruisin g a ro u nd hopi ng for a lucky break." T he heat race was a specta cular a ffa ir. Busb y led early. but got out of shape in the chicane and dropped to fifth . Humble. McDonald, Morris and Labrosse traded positions wi th Morris coming up the winner. ina close :.:: }~n)ilshi ;. .. -a t ' j ~d ;~~'l ~. J' I . ) i J I. Hugh Hu mbl. IVaml: 2. Som Mc O .nlld IVlm): 3. A lan Labrosse IYa m}; 4. DaveBusby (Y am); 5. Craig Morris (Varni; 6. . R HltWI~ (Yam); 1.'JimmyFilice(Va 8. Bruce MaUl (Yam); hys rnI: 9. John Wilhams (Vlml; 10. RusSin Paulk (Yaml: 11. Nobuhiro Nl kamurl IV lm): 12. Morll Schmid1 IVlm~ 13. Rick O rlondo • :: j n IV mt 14, Rod Crll>by (Vlmt IS, Danni. H..,sie IYamt 16. l thri"" , Blur IVlml: 17. J. .... Woo.I" IYlm): l B. Richerd Lydon (Vl mto 19. Thad Ulli, (Ylmt. 20. Pl ul IoOOcII1IIVlml, n..: 23 min.. 15.76 SIcs. Avellg< Spud: 103.169 mph. • , .. I .. .. I .. e, l ~ • I I I t l f IJ I : ~ 1 ~ I J .J 11

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